


The Love of a (Mostly) Ex-Assassin

by adroitstories



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: And we're not quite sure what steve is doing, Bucky's Pissed, M/M, Past violence mentioned, Swearing, Tony's scared
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-08
Updated: 2015-07-08
Packaged: 2018-04-08 08:58:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4298670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adroitstories/pseuds/adroitstories
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky finally learns about the argument on the Helicarrier in The Avengers. He's not happy, and is going to make sure that Tony knows he's not happy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Love of a (Mostly) Ex-Assassin

**Author's Note:**

> I read a prompt on tumblr and my imagination got carried away. The prompt was not originally directed towards me but tumblr user bonesbuckleup, and I really, really wanted to write this, even though bonesbuckleup made me smile so hard I thought my face was going to split. Go read it! It's very good.
> 
> Link to original prompt: http://bonesbuckleup.tumblr.com/post/86370573247/do-it-write-the-fic-of-steve-telling-bucky

It all starts when Ex-Assassin #3 walks in. How is this his life? He has to _number_ the ex-assassins he knows. Bucky walks up to Tony, a smile plastered on his face.

“Hey, Sarge. You _have_ to try this champagne. Did they have champagne back— I don’t think they did—”

The stockholders he’s schmoozing with for lunch all stop at the sight of him. Tony can’t really blame them. Even after what happened in D.C. five years ago, nobody’s gotten used to seeing the Winter Soldier walking around with the rest of the Avengers. He’s silent unless he wants to be. Must come from being, you know, an ex-assassin.

Bucky’s still grinning as he sidles up behind Tony. He bends down so he’s whispering in Tony’s ear and says, “We have a situation at the Tower.”

“Really? Right now? I was just enjoying my lunch with all of these lovely people.” Tony manages to say it in a way that makes everyone wonder if he’s being sarcastic or not. “And why didn’t JARVIS alert me?”

“JARVIS’ servers are down.” At the simple declaration, Tony’ eyes go wide. If even JARVIS was affected, something really serious must have happened. He stands.

“If you’ll excuse me, I have to go fix whatever my roommates wrecked. THIS is why insurance rates for superheroes are so high,” Tony shakes his head. He gets nervous chuckles out of his stockholders, and that’s good enough for him.

“This way,” Bucky leads him. They’re going up to the roof? As if Bucky read his mind, he continues, “Steve piloted one of your new stealth choppers.”

“Gramps can fly STARK tech? Note to self: make the controls more complicated.” Tony hears Bucky give a dry chuckle. Just before they get to the top floor, Bucky stops, listening.

“What is it?” Tony asks.

Bucky holds up his hand, intensely focused on the comm in his ear. Then he grabs Stark and pushes him into the nearest open room from the stairwell. Tony hits the floor with an _oof!_ He manages to stand as he sees Bucky lock the door.

“What the hell is going on?” Tony belligerently asks. When Bucky turns to him with a sick smile on his face, then Tony knows he has to be worried.

“Um, Bucky?”

Bucky doesn’t answer as he pulls out the knives Tony made for him. They’re connected to his arm, and using the tech from his last suit, Bucky can wield them without touching them. Its all a matter of hand motions. Bucky had been simultaneously gleeful and touched. They’d been a wedding gift when Steve and Bucky had gotten married. Bucky wore his vibranium ring on his right hand.

Bucky starts flipping one in his metal hand. Tony backs away slowly.

“Bucky? Um, I don’t want to bother you, or anything, but we have a situation at the Tower and—there is no situation at the Tower, is there?” Tony says as it dawns on him. Bucky shakes his head, still flipping the knife.

“Okay. You got me. Which, admittedly is not that hard. Natasha, you should try getting Natasha,” Tony suggests. “I think you might find that she's harder to get the drop on.”

Bucky laughs. “I don’t have a death wish, Stark. But you must.”

“ ‘ _I_ ’ must? I don’t know buddy, I kinda like living.”

Bucky’s quiet for a moment, still flipping his knife. Then he throws it at Tony’s chest, and he can’t help the undignified squeal as he throws his hands up. But after a couple beats, he feels no sharp implement in his body. He looks cautiously up.

The knife has stopped, millimeters away from his skin. It is twirling slowly, and damn it if Tony doesn’t admire his handiwork. Those knives are beautiful. The balance, the aesthetic: pure black with streaks of red and silver. Tony could probably reach out and grab it if he wanted, but he doesn’t dare.

Bucky pulls out a couple more knives and twirls them in the air, and fuck if that wasn’t one of the creepiest and most beautiful things Tony has ever seen. He congratulates himself on those knives, and then realizes he should be paying attention to the man wielding them. “You know, last night, after a particularly difficult bout of self-recrimination and guilt, Steve said something to me. I was struck by how stupid it was. I mean, yeah, Rogers is one of the stupidest men alive, but this was a whole new level of dumbass, even for him. And then it hit me.” Barnes looks at Tony, and he sees ninety years of love and sacrifice in those blue eyes, along with the cold fire of hatred. Not only directed towards him, Tony realizes, but anyone who would cause Steve Rogers pain, by verbal or physical means. Tony gulps. He starts racking his brains for what he  said but was quickly coming up with nothing.

“Only a genius could say something so stupid. And you're the dumbest genius I know.” The knife hovering in front of Tony’s chest inches just a little closer.

“I say a lotta things,” Tony says with all the bravado he has.

“I don’t know. This one was pretty memorable.”

Tony shrugs. “You’re an ex-assassin. Do you remember all the kills you’ve made?” Low blow, but he’s trying to buy time.

Bucky smiles. It sends shivers down Tony’s spine. “Mostly ex-assassin.”

Bucky stares at him for another moment, then cocks his head. His eyes glaze over as he starts walking down memory lane, but Tony isn’t fooled for a moment. If he tries anything, the knife will probably embed itself in his chest. Bucky probably won’t do it, but it’s better not to take his chances. Ex-Assassin #3 starts talking calmly.

“You know, one day, these two assholes were ganging up on this one girl. God knows what they had planned for her, but Steve saw and jumped to her rescue. Bought the dame enough time to run away screaming, which drew my attention. By the time I got there, Steve was face down in a pile of shit. He had bruises for two weeks afterwards.

“Another time, Steve spotted a couple kids on the street. They were wearing thin clothes and they didn’t have shoes, which wasn’t a problem in the summer, but it was getting colder. When he offered to give them some food, they backed away. For the next two months, Steve put various things in a box and left it right by where he saw them. Anything from sweatshirts to canned meat and veggies, and occasionally a comic or two. Not that we could spare all that much, but Steve did it anyway.

“You getting the general gist of this, Stark? Pepper tells me that you’ve got selective hearing, so I want to make sure I have your full attention.” A couple more knives appeared. One at his neck, the other at someplace he was very sure Pepper would lament if any harm came.

“I was actually thinking about the lunch I’m missing right now. You really have to work on making your monologues a little more interesting, Barnes.”

Barnes smiles wickedly. The knives move just a little more, piercing the fabric of his suit. Barnes hits the switch for the shutters and turns off the lights so it’s pitch black in the room. Tony could have kicked himself. Now he couldn’t even see him. But Barnes keeps talking.

“Oh, another one. This one kid fell into the East River and he couldn’t swim. The poor mother was screaming her head off, not that I blame her. Her kid was drowning. So Steve kicked off his shoes, jumped in, and rescued the kid. He got pneumonia afterwards. The kid splashed so much water into his mouth. I wasn’t sure he was going to make it.” Bucky quiets as he finishes the last sentence. He continues.

“I came home one night to find that Steve wasn’t there. I panicked a little. As it turns out, Mrs. Jones next door was running a fever, and she didn’t have anyone else to take care of her. So Steve did. He got a fever out of that one, too.

“Does this sound like something a normal person would do, Stark?” Bucky’s voice is low and dangerous.

Tony answers honestly. “No.”

“ ‘No’? This doesn’t sound like something a normal person would do? A normal person _wouldn’t_ rescue dogs and kittens from the paths of trucks to give them back to smiling kids? This _doesn’t_ sound normal to you?”

The knives move so that they’re touching Tony’s flesh. “No, no it really doesn’t.”

“Then we can agree that Steve was special _way_ before he entered the war.”

“Absolutely.”

Bucky’s voice sounds furious. Tony wonders how he was so calm before. “Then you will imagine my surprise when Steve said last night, what was it?” There is the sound of a knife being thrown, and Tony feels something quivering above his head.

“Something about everything special about him coming from a bottle?”

Tony freezes, the conversation coming back to him. “I can explain that, I swear-”

“I know you can.” The lights come back on and the blinds shoot back up. Tony shuts his eyes at the sudden brightness. When he blinks his eyes open, Bucky is thrumming with anger.

“If I ever, _ever_ hear something like that again, nobody's gonna find your body. That's a goddamn promise, Stark.” Bucky flicks his wrist and the knives _zoom_ back to their sheaths. Tony inhales deeply, not realizing he was holding his breath.

“I'll hold you to it," Tony says easily, heart racing. He starts. "Is JARVIS even offline?” he calls to Bucky’s retreating form.

“No, sir. I am right here,” the AI says.

Tony’s incredulous. “And you just let him do that to me?”

“He assured me that no physical damage would be done.”

Tony rubs his forehead. “Remind me to never get on his bad side.”

 

He can sense JARVIS' derision. "I thought that was painfully obvious, sir."

**  
**

 

**Author's Note:**

> Don't ask me how the knives work, but I would guess electromagnetism activated by a code word of Bucky's choosing. Probably something in Russian. Which he said before the events in this story.
> 
> Comments and criticism are always enjoyed. Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!


End file.
